The Human Knight
by Durmatagno
Summary: A human from the distant past shows up unexpectedly just after our favorite Peridactyl gets back her tape recorder.
1. Chapter 1

**This is set, in part (the present time stuff), just after the newest episode "Logdate 7 15 2", and will contain spoiler from this, and previous episodes. If you wish to avoid spoilers of these episodes, and future episodes I may take material from, turn back now, you have been sufficiently warned.**

"Here Peridot take this back." Steven says as he hands Peridot back her tape recorder.

"Wow…thanks." Peridot responds, her voice monotone.

Garnet raises her hand, and gives Steven a thumbs up, and just as Steven is about to respond in kind, a loud boom echoes through the barn, followed moments later by a loud crash, and the smell of smoke as something outside explodes.

Rushing outside to see just what's going on, the trio stop next to Pearl and Amethyst, both with weapon ready as they stare into a crater at the bottom of the hill the barn sits on. In the smoking crater, seemingly untouched by the impact, is a large crystal shard.

"What is it?" Steven asks, looking up at Garnet as Peridot hides behind the two of them.

"I WISH I HAD MY LIMB ENHANCERS!" She shouts, both terrified and curious.

"I don't know Steven, but it could be dangerous, so stay back." Garnet responds coolly after Peridot finishes her shout.

"Oh Garnet, do you think it's from Homeworld?" Pearl asks, clutching her spear, ready to attack should the crystal move.

"Psssh, I don't think so. Look at how rough it is, everything Peridot brought with her was much rounder then that thing." Amethyst says before jumping down, landing near the shard in the crater.

"AMETHYST! IT COULD BE A…A…A MONSTER, OR AN OLD GEM WEAPON!"

Amethyst wipes the outside of the Crystal, and peers inside, dropping her whip after a second.

"GUYS, I DON'T THINK IT'S DANGEROUS, THERE'S A GUY INSIDE, NOT A GEM."

"Inside?" Pearl whispers to herself as the group jumps down to join Amethyst, Steven and Peridot both sliding down the hill instead of leaping.

As they neared, through the area Amethyst had cleared of what looks like frost, still clinging to the crystal, they could see that she was indeed correct. Inside the crystal was a human man, just a little shorter then Garnet, and covered in tattered armor, a yellow mace clutched in one fist. They could also see, behind him on an opaque part of the shard, was the symbol of Yellow Diamond, and only Yellow Diamond. The man had long black hair, reminiscent of Amethyst's own, and was lightly tanned.

"This thing belongs to Yellow Diamond?" Pearl ponders as Peridot creeps closer and knocks on the thing, and then gasps.

"I…I know what this thing is! It's a stasis crystal, I never thought that any of them had survived! They were built to put damaged gems into stasis so that they could be healed later if no healer was around where they were cracked. It can be modified to put Organic life into the same kind of stasis. They stopped using these over a thousand years ago."

Garnet frowns, and raises her gloved hands, about to smash the thing before a pink bubble appears in front of her.

"Steven! Get out of my way, this thing could be dangerous!"

"No! I won't let you, that's a human in there, not a gem, not a corrupted gem, not even one of those fusion experiments."

"Steven, that pod belonged to Yellow Diamond, and if she put a human into stasis, she must have had good reason, it's too dangerous to keep around."

"We don't know that! You said that humans fought in the Rebellion to, trying to retake Earth. What if he was from the Rebellion?"

Garnet frowns and lowers her hands. "Fine, but we aren't opening it here, let's get this thing in the barn where there'll be less room for him to try and run."

Leaning down, Garnet tugs on the crystal, then frowns again, and tugs harder, pulling the thing out of the ground. While she could hold it, it proved to be heavier then she thought. A few moments later she dropped it on the floor of the barn, and activated the pod. It hissed, and cold air poured out of the inside. For a moment, nothing seemed to happen, then the man's eyes snapped open, blinked, and he fixed them on the gems, focusing mainly on Garnet.

"GEMS!"

Pushing out of the pod, faster than any of them expected, he leaped over them, and landed behind them, more of his armor, apparently made of a yellow crystal, fell to the ground, breaking away from his arm. Mace in his hand ready, and his body tense.

 **Well that does it for Chapter 1, Chapter 2 will be up tomorrow, and maybe even Chapter 3. Let me know what you think.**


	2. Chapter 2

"Steven! Get back!" Pearl shouts, standing in front of him.

"Wait, Ste-?"

Garnet simply walks up to the man, who promptly swings his mace. Garnet raises one gloved fist to block the mace, and seems confident. The mace slams into her Gauntlet, and shatters it, sending Garnet sliding across the floor for several feet.

"ARE YOU SURE HE'S HUMAN?!" Garnet shouts to Amethyst and Peridot.

"Well what else could he be, Gems aren't male." Amethyst responds as her whip snaps through the air, and wraps around the man's arm. Giving her whip a sharp tug, she pulls the man off balance, and grunts in surprise at the effort, followed quickly by Pearl sweeping his legs out from under him.

Falling flat on his face, the man growls, and rolls, right into Garnet's legs, who, gauntlet reformed, grabs him by the shoulders and picks him up. As he fights against her, she grunts with the effort of keeping him in her hands while Amethyst wraps the man with several whips, binding his arms, legs, and hands.

"Garnet, his armor…" Pearl says, picking up a piece off the floor.

"I know, if it wasn't in such bad shape, it'd take hits from even me." Garnet responds, staying close behind the man.

"Are all humans like this one?" A clearly terrified Peridot asks from behind a pile of junk in the corner of the barn.

"No, most humans would be hard-pressed to hurt even you Peridot, this one, if he's even human, had the strength to break my gauntlet." Garnet says as she shakes her head.

"Filthy Gems, I WAN'T YOU AND YOUR COLONY OFF MY PLANET." Shouts the man, clearly angry, as he struggles against Amethyst's whips.

"STOOOP." Shouts Steven as he pushes out from behind Pearl.

"Steven! Don't get to close, he's dangerous."

"No Pearl, he isn't. He thought you were attacking him, and he said to get your colony off his planet. He thinks you're with homeworld." Steven says.

Garnet ponders for a second, then opens her mouth. "Steven's right, he was scared, and he's used to fighting, he thought he was defending himself. Amethyst, let him free."

"But Garnet, wh-"

"No Pearl, if he tries anything, we'll be fine. Just let him go Amethyst."

"If you say so G." Amethyst says before dismissing her whips.

Rubbing his wrists, the man warily stands, and looks around him.

"Oh….you're the gem rebellion aren't you?"

"Yes." Garnet replies, simply and calmly.

"Well that explains the human, Steven. The few humans in the hands of the colony are complete slaves, and they rarely su….well, it's not good." He stops himself, noticing just how young Steven is.

"Where are we anyway?"

"You think we're going to trust you just like that?!" Exclaims Pearl, her spear still in hand.

"Pearl, before we decide on whether to trust him or not, he needs to know."

"Know what Garnet?"

"He thinks that there's still a colony on Earth."

"You mean…he was in that thing since before the final battle?"

"Yes."

"Oh my." Pearl drops her spear and raises one hand to gently cover her mouth.

"What are you talking about?"

"First, what's your name?" Garnet asks, arms crossed.

"It's Toel."

"Well Toel, there is no colony on Earth anymore. There hasn't been for five thousand years."

"What! No, I don't believe you!" He exclaims, backing away from them, and from a pouch on his waist, withdraws a small crystal, which glows briefly, then begins beeping. He waits for several seconds before throwing it angrily across the room.

"SHE'S NOT ANSWERING!"

Peridot picks up the crystal, and inspects it. "This is a planetary communicator, its old Gem tech."

Pulling out a different crystal, this one small, and smooth, Toel activates it. After a second, a shimmering hologram of Earth, the modern Earth, appears. Staring at it for a moment, he looks up at the date, then switches to what looks like a log screen.

"Oh god…..it really has been five thousand years." Sinking to his knees, the man curls up, and stops moving, just lying there.

"Psssh, whatever, I don't see the-", Garnet holds out a hand, stopping Amythyst.

"Give him some space, everything, and everyone he's ever known is gone. Come on, let's go outside, I'll watch the barn from out there."


	3. Chapter 3

Toel paces across the barn, ignoring the hole in the wall for the time being.

 _How could it have been five thousand years?! What happened, why was I gone for so long? Oh god, she's going to kill me if she's still alive._

Angry, Toel growls, and is about to punch a beam when Garnet's voice stops him.

"Don't, that supports the ceiling, barn will fall down on you."

Sighing, Toel sinks to the ground, and leans against the pillar, head in his hands.

 _Well, at least Earth and humans are still around._

Unbuckling what's left of his armor, he tosses it to the side, and sighs.

"Well, at least I don't have to wear that stuffy armor anymore."

He joked lightly, teary eyed. Garnet crosses the barn, and sits in front of him, legs crossed, and places one hand gently on his shoulder. Sighing, he looks up.

"Tell me Toel, why are you wearing that armor?"

"I….I fought against the gems that invaded this world, at first us humans were basically defenseless, we had to ambush gems that were on their own. As time went by, we started to collected forged gem equipment, and weapons, like my mace. Eventually, we gathered enough to melt them down, and reforge them into armor for those of us that were the best at fighting. That's how I got my armor. It served well, at first, but one of our raids ended up with the rebels also there, and something exploded. At least a dozen gems shattered, and their shards flew everywhere. I still don't know how I survived, but I did, and when my injuries healed, I found that I was faster, and stronger than before. Eventually, I got captured by some homeworld gems sent by Yellow Diamond. Curious as to how I was able to fight some weaker Quartz gems one on one, they put me through some machine. Turns out, I have a few dozen gem shards embedded in my bones, biggest is only few centimeters across, but they've reinvigorated my body. I don't want to say more than that, it gets….painful."

He says, clutching his arm near an obvious surgical scar. Garnet nods, and lifts him up, and sets him on his feet.

"Welcome back to Earth Toel, a lot has change while you were gone in that stasis pod. EVERYONE, GET IN HERE."

She calls to the gems, and Steven gathered outside. Amethyst is the first in.

"So what's up G, he cool, or do I need to smash his face in?"

"Amethyst, don't hurt him, he's fine."

"Well, what are we going to do?" Pearl asks, worried.

"Help him of course. He has nowhere to go." Steven says, to which Garnet nods.

"He helped fight against Homeworld, we might need his help, and we can't just abandon him in a world he doesn't recognize anymore."

Pearl sighs. "I'll find another cot, and blanket."

Peridot stays behind the rest of the group, not talking, but instead watching him.

Steven offers his hand to Toel. "Hi, my names Steven!"

"H…hi." Toel murmurs as he shakes Steven's hand. Looking to the side, he sighs.

"Sorry it's just…..I don't know, I just need some time to adjust I guess. Years, I spent years fighting to save this world."

"O M G, you fought homeworld!"

"Yeah….I did."

"Steven, leave him alone for now, he's got to be exhausted from everything that's happened." Garnet says as she picks up Steven, and Peridot who has crept closer.

Pearl returns a moment later as Garnet calmly strolls out of the barn with Peridot and Steven tucked under her arms.

"Here, we've got a spar cot, and blanket. You can sleep up in the roost till we figure out what to do with you."

She says as she climbs up, showing him where it is.

"Yeah, thanks Pearl."

"If you need anything, we'll probably be outside. Don't cause any trouble, we've got enough to worry about without you causing more issues."


End file.
